


The Cherry of My Canvas

by auralikh



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 21:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11632701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auralikh/pseuds/auralikh
Summary: The scenery of Palaces were remarkable, locations no normal human would ever step into. The sight of a falling Shadow, the immediate rotting of vice for something more beautiful in the end.Narratives combining multiple mediums offered unique tales. And so, Yusuke painted to the plots that Akechi weaved.





	The Cherry of My Canvas

“With the way you wax poetic about all of the Palace scenery, I expected that you’d have finished the painting already.”

“To marvel at all the architecture and the vastness of outer space is one thing,” Yusuke doesn’t bother to look up at the person who spoke, as always, and opts to start lining the edge of the floor in the painting with a dark line of purple instead, “To be able to capture it in a way that doesn’t shame the Palace or me as an artist is another.”

“Fair enough, what do I know about painting.”

“Painfully little it seems.” Yusuke shuts his eyes for a moment because he felt them strain but doesn’t waste a second moment before he gets back to the painting, now adjusting the lighting.

“Honest as always,” A sigh. A freshly ungloved hand comes down to reach Yusuke’s cheek, trying to thumb the smear of red away to no avail, “You got paint on yourself again. Aren’t you working with the kind that takes a week to wash off?”

“Yes, but it’s not as though people expect much else from me. And even if they did judge, what does that matter so long as I’m able to produce something meaningful?”

“Well I guess it won’t matter since we’ll be going to the Palace tomorrow to finish this off. Do you think you’ll be done by then?”

“I’m almost done with the finishing touches, actually. Unfortunately, Okumura’s... appearance makes it impossible to seriously include him in the work, but Haru should suffice. We should still be able to get a reaction out of them.”

“I’m sure they’ve spent more than enough time there to recognize it immediately.”

Yusuke makes the finishing touches on Noir’s hair and he’s even tempted to reach out and touch it, feel the fluffy, almost pillowy texture, “What do you plan to do with all of these, Akechi?”

Akechi’s hand goes back to Yusuke’s cheek, this time not trying to rub the red away, rather it lingers, tracing the edge of the paint before pressing a finger against Yusuke’s lips, “It’s a secret.” Akechi smiles. He takes his eyes away from the artist to look at the actual artwork featuring Noir unmasking herself as she dragged an axe, a trail of blood thin but impossible to miss in the green and blue saturated scene of the space station’s interior. Edges and spots of the scenery are stolen by the void of outer space, giving the impression that the entire place will disappear at the blink of an eye, which isn’t far from the truth.

Yusuke gives a small grin under Akechi’s finger and pulls back to stand up, “So be it. I’ve quite enjoyed myself with all of these paintings and admiring the Palaces regardless. I hope you’ll at least let me get the finishing shot tomorrow.”

“We know we can’t have you do that. How will you be able to do it without the others seeing you?” Akechi leans closer for a short kiss, “There’s your reward for finishing this painting just as nicely as the others.”

Yusuke frowns, “I was looking forward to that diner you’d talked so much about.”

“You didn’t include Kunikazu Okumura, which means the public might not get it.” Akechi puts his glove back on.

“Don’t you think they’ll understand with the entire series?”

Akechi looks around at all of the other completed paintings in the room, displaying the Palaces of Madarame, Kaneshiro, Futaba (with a Medjed impostor instead,) the principal of Shujin High School, a collage that features several important figures who had suffered mental shutdowns in Mementos, and now an absent Okumura, implied through his sole heir.

Aside from Yusuke’s most recent work, the rest of the paintings all flirt with the macabre. Kaneshiro drowns in a pool of his dirty money, pupils rolled behind his head and a smile that made him appear at though the drowning was pleasurable. The skin of the fake Medjed member was being deleted line by line like it was through a text editor, but not without leaving his insides on display, blackened by the haughtiness of a hacker. The picture of the exhibition holds what’s closer to a surrealistic depiction of Madarame than anything else. There’s a gaping hole in his torso where a giant paintbrush hovers in the middle, and past students do as they please with his paper body for their own artwork, whether they cut, paint, or make paper mache. Yusuke must still hold a special grudge on his caregiver. To say Akechi understands that feeling is an understatement.

“There will be immediate speculation, certainly.” Akechi nods, “With how big the Phantom Aficionado Website is, it might even become a forum for discussion once the public can see these masterpieces.”

Yusuke rolls his neck, long and slender like the rest of him. It’ll be a shame if a time comes where Akechi has no choice but to snap it, but Shido doesn’t know about them. Yet, “Can we go to Leblanc?”

“Why? I believe they’re already closed by now.”

“Oh? What a shame. It would have been pleasing to see their enthusiastic expressions one last time before the curtain falls.” Yusuke looks genuinely disappointed, “Also Akira’s been brewing coffee almost as well as Bo- I mean, Sojiro these days.”

“How unfortunate. You’ll only have me as your company for the rest of the night.” Akira smirks, “I hope my apartment has been better than staying at the dorms with such unpleasant company.”

“Both are quite luxurious, but yes,” Yusuke pulls the shorter boy into an embrace, “I’m grateful to have met you back when I was still blinded from the truth.”

“I feel the same way. It was... lonely trying to do all of this by myself,” Akechi says, leaning his head onto the artist’s shoulder and letting the warmth surround him. He’d been so touch-starved all of his life, that now he can never keep himself from indulging when the occasion arises, “I honestly still can’t believe I would ever find someone, someone that’s not just some fickle fan judging every word I say on television.”

Yusuke kisses the top of Akechi’s head and rests his cheek on the mop of brown hair, “You’ve taught me to see the beauty that can develop from ugliness. Even here, after years of abuse and neglect, you still stand here. Our trust, our love developed from this and that. We’ll end Shido’s disgusting soul and mark it beautifully.”

“...And you’re still okay with betraying the ones that helped you?” Akechi looks up for affirmation, something in the core of him found it impossible to fully trust anyone, no matter how much their actions seemed to say otherwise. One bad word can always lead to a heel face turn in the world of media and politics. Yusuke is untouched by either, but humans were always known for their adaptability, and that meant fickleness.

“If I was not willing to commit such an act, would I have complied to any of this in the first place? You were behaving suspiciously around me at that time too. They just happened to take action before you.” Yusuke gazes down at Akechi before suddenly breaking the moment and going back to his canvas.

“How cold.” Akechi watches as Yusuke picks up a paintbrush and dips it in the mug explicitly labelled "Paint Water" that was suspiciously close to the mug of coffee that was still mostly full. The necessity of the label tells quite a bit about the artist's tendencies, to say the least.

“I can’t give anything less than perfection to complement your work.” Yusuke smiles as makes the slightest alterations to one of the edges where starry space was taking over.

Akechi chuckles at that because the minor adjustments will still look the same to an amateur eye like him, who couldn’t care less if the artwork could be considered perfect. The effort is quite charming, nonetheless.

He’ll have to make sure to show some reciprocation some other time.


End file.
